What influences accounting students’ attitudes towards accounting as a profession?

http://www.afaanz.org/openconf/2008/modules/request.php?module=oc_proceedings&action=view.php&a=Accept+as+Paper&id=491

Tracey Mc Dowall*School of Accounting, Economics and FinanceFaculty of Business and LawDeakin University221 Burwood Hwy Burwood Vic 3125 AustraliaTel: + 61 3 9244 6367Fax: + 61 3 9244 6283E-mail: tracey.mcdowall@deakin.edu.au

and

Beverley Jackling School of Accounting and LawRMIT University239 Bourke Street, Melbourne, Victoria AustraliaPhone: +61 +3 9925 5754Email: beverley.jackling@rmit.edu.au

*Contact author: tracey.mcdowall@deakin.edu.au

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Abstract

Several issues have been linked with the choice of an accounting major, and more specifically choice of accounting as a career path, including perceptions of the professional attributes required of accountants. The present study addresses two main themes: undergraduate students’ perceptions of the accounting profession and influences on decision to major in accounting. The study is motivated by the prior research of Marriott and Marriott (2003) that indicated exposure to accounting studies has a negative effect on attitudes towards the profession.

The results show that students’ perceptions of the profession related to work activities and prestige of the profession. Further analysis examining the influences on choice of an accounting major revealed three major factors: intrinsic interest in the content of accounting courses, influences of parents and friends together with perceptions of job status of accounting related to career advancement and salary. When compared with the Marriott and Marriott (2003) study, the present study showed students had more positive attitudes to studying accounting. There were however significant differences between local and international students in attitudes to the accounting profession

Key words: perceptions, accounting major, accounting profession

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1. Introduction

The number of professional accountants in Australia is growing steadily, “100,000 in

1995-96 and 140,000 in 2005-06,” (Birrell, 2006 p3). However, this is not attributed to

the growth in domestic trained accountants but from recently arrived migrants, with the

majority being former overseas students who have completed their course in Australia.

The number of accountants who are former overseas students increased from 933 in

2001-02 to 6559 in 2005-6 (Birrell, 2006).

Overall the number of students graduating in accounting courses at Australian

universities is increasing, but the credit must once again go to an increase in

international enrolments. The increase in numbers is due to the high propensity of these

students to seek permanent residence on competition of their course. Birrell (2006)

indicates that the number of overseas students who completed their degree in

accounting has increased substantially in recent years. This is in contrast to prior

research conducted in the United States over the last decade which has highlighted the

decline in the number of students’ majoring in accounting has impacted on the supply

of accounting graduates to the profession (Saemann and Crooker, 1999; Albrecht and

Sack, 2000). The declining popularity of accounting majors amongst local students in

Australia has been in part attributed to the negative views of the profession, particularly

the stereotypical view that accountants require good number skills (Mladenovic 2000;

Parker 2001). In order to understand students’ attitude towards the profession, one of

the aims of this study is to investigate the factors that influence students’ choice of

accounting at university level.

A number of studies have examined the influencing factors that contribute to a students’

choice of major. These influencing factors include extrinsic and intrinsic interests in the

discipline. Extrinsic factors such as perceived benefits, opportunities for advancement

have been found to be important factors in students’ choice of major (Paolillo and

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Estest 1982; Gul et al., 1989; Felton et al., 1995; Ahmed et al., 1997). Intrinsic factors

in relation to the need to obtain an interesting job has been found to be important in

choice of accounting as a career (Adams, et al. 1984; Linden, 1987). Educational

experience, including prior studies in accounting together with personal characteristics

such as gender have also been identified with a students’ choice of accounting major

(Nelson and Vendrzyk, 1996; Byrne and Willis, 2005).

This paper aims to address two main themes: undergraduate students’ perceptions of the

accounting profession and influences on decisions to major in accounting, given

Marriott and Marriott’s (2003) study that indicated exposure to accounting studies has a

negative effect on attitudes towards the profession.

The following section of the paper reviews the literature related to the choice of

accounting as a major and as a career choice. The subsequent section describes the

research approach including research design, data collection and data analysis

techniques. Section 4 presents an analysis and discussion of the results. The paper

concludes with identifying limitations of the study and opportunities for further

research.

2. Literature Review

The influences of background characteristics, choice of accounting as a discipline and

perceptions of the accounting profession are the 3 areas that will be highlighted in

addressing the background literature for this study.

Background Characteristics

Gender

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Various studies have investigated whether there are differences in the attitudes of males

and females to accounting. Research undertaken by Nelson and Vendrzyk (1996) in the

USA demonstrated that females had more favourable attitudes towards accounting than

male students. This finding has more recently been supported by a study in Ireland by

Byrne and Willis (2005) who found that female secondary school students viewed

accounting as more definite, precise and compliance driven than males.

In Marriott and Marriott’s 2003 study, there was evidence to suggest that female

accounting students in a university environment were more inclined to view accounting

positively as they progressed through their undergraduate accounting studies. Their

results showed that females in a social context viewed accountants as people focused

(Marriott and Marriott 2003, p.125). This is consistent with the earlier work of Nelson

and Vendrzyk (1996). In contrast Jackling and Calero (2006) did not find any

significant difference in females and males in their interest in becoming an accountant.

However this discrepancy in findings may in part be explained by the fact that Jackling

and Calero’s (2006) study was only aimed at first year level while Marriott and Marriott

(2003) was a longitudinal study.

Overseas student versus local student

Recent figures show that overseas students enrolled in accounting courses now make up

around 47 per cent of all commencing students in the business field

(www.cpaaustralia.com.au/cps/rde/xchg/). The growth in overseas student enrolments

in accounting has been at the Masters level together with a change in the institutional

location of accounting teaching. As of semester 1 2005, 14,427 overseas students were

enrolled and 15, 696 local students were enrolled in an accounting major (DEST 2005).

Birrell (2006) reported that “the number of resident domestic students completing

accredited accounting courses at Australian universities has only increased marginally

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over the past decade. There has been an increase in the numbers studying accounting in

Australian universities, but it is almost entirely attributable to expansion in the numbers

of full-fee overseas students.”(p.7)

Other studies (Clikeman et al., 2001) have tried to link a student’s country of origin to

student perceptions of particular accounting issues. However no significant relationship

was found. This is supported by Jackling and Keneley (2007) who reported few

differences between local and international students with respect to motivational

influences on decision to major in accounting.

Several issues have been linked with the choice of an accounting major. Educational

experiences, including prior studies in accounting together with course experience and

personal characteristics, such as gender (Nelson and Vendrzyk, 1996; Byrne and Willis,

2005) and socio-economic status (Pearson and Dellman-Jenkins, 1997) have also been

identified with choice of major. Of significant value is the findings of Jackling and

Calero, 2006, which supports the conclusions of earlier studies (AECC, 1992;

Mladenovic, 2000; Byrne and Willis, 2005), that the experiences of the first course in

accounting impact on students intention to pursue an accounting career.

Intrinsic interest

A number of studies have indicated that job satisfaction is important in accounting

students’ discipline choice (Paolillo and Estes, 1982; Gul et al 1989; Ahmed et al.,

1997; Auyeung and Sands 1997). However Paolillo and Estes, 1982 and Ahmed et al.,

1997 also found that accountancy students attach lower importance to intrinsic factors.

This is in contrast to the findings of Linden (1987), Adams et al., (1994), Felton et al.,

(1994) and Jackling and Calero (2006), who demonstrate that intrinsic factors are very

important in career decisions made by accounting students.

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Studies conducted by Adams et al., (1994) and Mauldin et al., (2000) indicate that

genuine interest in the subject is an important selection factor. Saemann and Crooker

(1999) also found that students are more likely to choose an accounting major when

they considered accounting interesting and enjoyable. This finding was further

supported by results of Jackling and Calero (2006) where intrinsic rewards such as

enjoyment of the study of the topics studied in accounting, were a predictor of intention

to undertake a career in accounting.

Other studies have found that many students believe the accounting curriculum impacts

on students’ perceptions of the work of the accountant and their desire to pursue a

career in accounting (Zeff 1989).

Accounting as a discipline

The way in which students as well as the public view accounting is an image that has

persisted over time and is reinforced by the media. Typically accountants have been

referred to as “number crunchers,” as bookkeeping and auditing work has been

emphasised or been associated with, an emphasis upon numerical accuracy, routine

recording and calculation methods, together with attention to detail (Parker, 2000). Rule

based

The study conducted by Cohen and Hanno (1993) and Allen (2004) suggest that the

workload in accounting courses could hinder a student’s decision to major in

accounting, and that students choose not to major in accounting because they perceived

it to be highly numbers orientated and boring. This is consistent with the findings of

Tan and Laswad (2006), who suggest that non-accounting majors may have not chosen

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accounting as their intended major because they perceived accounting as too numbers

orientated.

Negative views of the profession have also been associated with the view that

accounting requires good number skills (Mladenovic, 2000; Parker 2001). Zeff (1989)

found that students viewed accounting as a rule-based type of educational experience

characterised by courses consisting of collections of rules to be memorised. Similarly,

Inman et al., (1989) found that many students’ views of accounting courses as

consisting of mass production and rote-memorization. The perception held by students

that accounting is rule-based and procedural activity is a problem as it may lead to the

wrong type of student undertaken accounting courses. This is the view of Friedlan

(1995) and Jackling (2002). They found that the wrong people may be choosing

accounting majors, given that the accounting profession aims to ensure that students

with qualities consistent with the demands of the profession are attracted to study

accounting majors.

Not only have students traditionally viewed the content of accounting courses

negatively, more recently, Jackling (2002) found that greater than 50 per cent of first

year students studying a core unit of accounting had negative perceptions of the

profession.

Accounting as a profession

Prior studies have shown that the perceptions and stereotypes that people hold are

important factors that influence their career decisions (Holland, 1966; 1973). Students’

attitudes towards the accounting profession are in part, influenced by their perceptions

that Marriot and Marriott (2003) term, ‘pre entry attitudes’ or expectations based on

societal stereotyping, childhood experiences and the imagery portrayed by the

profession and their experiences when studying accounting at university. This section of

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the literature review examines the underlying factors that impact on students

perceptions of the accounting profession

Work activities of the profession

Perceptions of the work of accountants have developed over the years from several

sources. In the media such as televisions, plays and films accountants are portrayed as

unflattering images (DeCoster and Rhode 1971; Cory 1992; Murphy 2000.) For

example the film industry has represented accountants as financial experts who are

inept, dysfunctional misfits, with antisocial tendencies and a dowdy nerdishness (Beard,

1994; Bougen 1994; Smith and Briggs 1999; Parker 2001). This is an image that has

persisted over time. Therefore it is ‘important for the accounting profession to monitor

public perceptions, including the perceptions of students’ so as to ensure that

prospective students have an accurate perception of accounting (Nelson et al., 2002,

p.282).

Prestige of the profession

In the past professional bodies and accounting educators have been concerned about the

negative image of the profession and the likely impact that this will have on attracting

high calibre students to study accounting ( Arthur Andersen & Co. et al., 1989; Geiger

and Ogilby 2000). In the USA Lowe and Simons (1997) found that future earnings was

the most important influence for accounting, finance and management majors. This is

consistent with the findings of many other studies (e.g.Tan and Laswad 2006; Maudlin

et al., 2000; Auyeung and Sands, 1997; Felton et al., 1994). These studies have shown

that accounting students’ discipline choice has traditionally been heavily influenced by

earnings potential and job market conditions or opportunities.

Influences of parents

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Harrison (1998) points out that it is not only students’ own perceptions that affect their

career decisions but also the perceptions of those around them. Therefore students may

be influenced by their accounting teacher from either high school or university, parents,

relatives or friends. However, prior research on the impact of teachers on a student’s

decision to major in accounting has produced inconclusive and mixed results. Some

studies have shown that teachers do not play a significant role in students’ choice of

majors (Cangelosi et al., 1985; Gul et al., 1989). In contrast, other studies (e.g.Paolillo

and Estes 1982; Hermanson and Hermanson 1995; Geiger and Ogilby 2000; Mauldin et

al., 2000) have found referents to have an influence on students’ decision to major. The

evidence regarding the influence of others, eg parents and friends is also inconclusive.

Studies such as Inman et al., (1989); Mauldin et al., (2000) and Tan and Laswad (2006),

found that parents, followed by instructors had a strong influence on students’ choice of

majors. Tan and Laswad (2006) also found that international students in particular

regarded the views of parents and career counsellors as important in their selection of

intended major. These findings are consistent with the findings of Auyeung and Sands

(1997), who found that Asian students tend to place more value on the opinion of

important referents, particularly their parents, in their major intentions.

In summary, this study investigates the various influences on undergraduate students’

decisions to undertake an accounting major and their perception of the accounting

profession, taking into account the issues addressed in prior literature as outlined above.

In particular the study conducted by Marriott and Marriott (2002) will in part be

replicated to analyse attitudes towards the accounting profession.

Based on the existing literature discussed, this paper will examine four research

questions:

Q1 What are the attitudes of undergraduate accounting majors to the profession?

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Q2 Are there differences in attitudes between local and international students towards

the profession?

Q3 Are there gender differences between attitudes towards the accounting profession?

Q4 Are the findings of Marriott and Marriott (2003) able to be replicated in an

Australian environment?

3. Research Approach

Research design and data collection

The data set used in this study was collected via questionnaires completed by 131

students undertaking the second unit in the accounting major as part of their

undergraduate studies in a Bachelor of Commerce course at a Victorian university in

Australia. This unit of study represents the first unit of accounting studied in the

undergraduate degree that is only completed by students pursuing an accounting major.

The questionnaire collected background information relating to entry pathway, country

of permanent residence and factors important in decision to major in accounting The

present study replicated several aspects of prior study of Marriott and Marriott (2003)

addressing perceptions of the accounting profession using the Accounting Attitude

Scale (AAS) developed by Nelson (1991). The AAS measures the overall, global

attitude of college students in the United States towards the accounting profession. The

administration of the measure over a number of years and at a number of universities in

the US indicate the reliability coefficient alpha has been 0.80 or above (Graves et al.,

1992; Nelson and Deines, 1995: Nelson and Vendryzk, 1996).

Data analysis techniques

In addressing students’ perceptions of the work of accountants the study uses

descriptive statistics to examine the attitude of undergraduate students towards the

accounting profession. The first part of the analysis tests for differences in attitudes

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between local and overseas students, together with any possible gender differences. The

study explored students’ attitudes towards the work of accountants following the

methodology by Marriott and Marriott (2003).

The items measuring attitude to the profession include some items that need to be

reversed in the scale. Items marked ® have been reversed coded so that the higher the

score the lower level of agreement, hence the more positive the response. In addition, as

in Marriott and Marriott (2003), all items have been re-keyed to a scale of 0 to 10. The

analysis of each of the 14 items was tested by using ‘independent group’ t-tests for

residence and gender. The study also compares the mean student scores and the mean

third year scores (t1 student scores presented in tables 4,6,7,8 and 9) of Marriott and

Marriott, (2003) including comparison of differences of local (home) students and

overseas students.

The reliability coefficient of the AAS is 0.724 in the present study, which is slightly

below the usual level of 0.8 but within acceptable limits (see Marriott and Marriott

2003).

Results

Descriptive statistics

In this study, questionnaires were distributed to students studying the second unit of an

accounting major. Of the 131 useable responses 74 were female and 57 were male. The

distribution of students by place of residence showed that 78.6 % were overseas

students and local students only made up 22.4% of the sample. The other interesting

background characteristic is that a large proportion of overseas students (74.4%)

completed their first year of university at another institution. That is only 25.6% had

completed their first year at the same university as their second year of study. Table 1

provides details of the background characteristics of the sample.

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Insert Table 1 here

As one of the main objectives of this study was to assess attitudes towards the

profession by students studying an accounting major, this section of the results presents

comparisons of the mean student scores on the AAS re perceptions of the accounting

profession together with the differences in perceptions of local and overseas students.

Table 2 shows the mean scores for each of the 14 variables addressing perceptions of

the accounting profession.

Insert Table 2 here

The results shown in Table 2 indicate that overall respondents perceived that the

accounting profession is well-respected (mean 7.85) and that they would enjoy being an

accountant (mean 7.77) and liked studying accounting (mean 7.42). The scores on these

items are consistent with Nelson and Vendrzyk’s study (1996) where scores ranged

from 7.225 to 7.56 out of a possible score of 10. Marriott and Marriott’s study (2003)

had scores above eight on four of the statements: the accounting profession is well

respected; I would enjoy being an accountant; accountants are not boring people; I like

accounting. However, it should be acknowledged that these were the scores for students

at the commencement of their studies whereas the results reported in the present study

are for students who have completed at least two units of university accounting. Of

interest is the finding in the present study that students overall did not perceive that

accounting involved a great deal of rule-memorising (4.83). This may reflect the

curriculum focus at the University where this study was conducted given that

procedural approaches are de emphasised and there is a focus on concept development.

Additionally, in the present study respondents were less likely to perceive that

Accountants worked alone (mean 5.48), compared with the Marriott and Marriott

(2003) study.

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Differences between local and overseas student perceptions of the accounting

profession

Given the high numbers of overseas students enrolled in undergraduate accounting studies

at Australian universities this study aimed to examine whether there were differences in

attitude towards the accounting profession between local and overseas students. The results

of the independent t tests are shown in Table 3.

Insert Table 3 here

The results show that there were significant differences between local and overseas

students on three of the 14 items addressing attitudes towards the profession. The

differences between the two cohorts are mixed in terms of attitudes. For instance, overseas

students were of the view that Accountants were boring, more so than local students.

However, the local students were more inclined to view Accountants as number crunchers

and unlikely to work with people

Overall there were no significant differences in the means for local and overseas students

on the remaining 11 items in the AAS scale, suggesting that students regardless of country

of origin had relatively uniform attitudes towards the accounting profession, when they had

completed two units of an accounting major.

Gender differences in attitudes towards the profession

The test of independent mean differences based on gender revealed that there was no

statistically significant difference in the responses of students to the perceptions of the

profession by gender. The only exception was the item ‘accountancy is a profession at par

with medicine or law,’ where females score (7.43) was significantly higher than that for

male students (6.39). This finding is to some extent supported by the prior work of Marriott

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and Marriott (2003) who found that females tended to have a more positive attitude

towards accounting, particularly by the end of their university accounting programme.

Comparisons with Marriott and Marriott findings

An additional objective of this study was to compare the perceptions of students in this

study with the mean third year results of Marriott and Marriott’s study (t1student scores

presented in tables 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 in Marriott and Marriott study (2003)). (for new

universities - see p.115 Marriott and Marriott,2003)

Table 4 shows the mean of responses to the AAS in the current study and the mean for

t1 reported by Marriott and Marriot (2003).

Insert Table 4 here

Most of the mean scores of the present study and Table 4, Marriott and Marriott 2003

appear to be statistically the same. Nevertheless, the students in the present study

appear to report a slightly more positive attitude than those in Marriott and Marriott

study as shown by the mean scores in the items ‘accounting is interesting,’ ‘I would

enjoy being an accountant,’ and ‘I like accounting.’

Table 5 compares ‘local’ students’ attitude towards the work of accountants with that of

‘home students’ in the Marriott and Marriott study. It can be seen that overall ‘home’

students’ scores are lower in present study than in the Marriott and Marriott study.

However, it can also be seen that statistically both sets of findings are similar.

Insert Table 5 here

In comparing the international students in the present sample with the results of

Marriott and Marriott’s results, it needs to be acknowledged that there may be different

cultural factors that influence the results. For example, the countries of origin of the

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international students in Marriott and Marriott’s study were mainly from India,

Malaysia, Singapore and China (Hong Kong), whereas in the present study the overseas

students were more frequently from mainland China, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Table 6

provides the details of the attitudes towards the accounting profession for international

students in the present study and Table 7 provides the results for international students

in Marriott and Marriott’s study.

A comparison of the means shows that overall international students in the present

study had less positive attitudes towards accounting than in Marriott and Marriott’s

study. However, overseas students in the present study had more positive attitudes to

accounting as a discipline and as a career choice, as they viewed their accounting as

more interesting and scored higher on ‘I like accounting’ and in terms of career choice

‘I would enjoy being an accountant’.

Insert Table 6 here

Discussion and Conclusions

Overall, the findings of this study suggest that students perceive that the accounting

profession is well respected. This result is similarly to the findings of Tan and Laswad

(2006) who revealed that “accounting majors hold positive attitudes towards some of

the perceptions of the accounting profession and the study of accounting” (p183).

Of particular interest was the finding that students did not perceive that accounting

involved a great deal of rule memorising. This is in contrast to the findings of Zeff

(1989) and Inman et al., (1989), that students viewed accounting as rule based.

The results indicated that there was significant difference between local and

international students in some items addressing attitudes towards the profession.

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Overseas students were of the belief that accountants were boring, more so than that of

local students. The reason for the difference in attitude may be explained by the

exposure to local students of an advertising campaign by professional accounting

bodies (e.g. CPA, ICAA). This advertising has occurred in the media, especially on

television in Australia. The campaign promotes the idea of a CPA as an exciting career

path that is challenging and can lead to many opportunities such as working overseas.

Therefore international students would not have been previously exposed to the

campaign before coming to Australia and this may explain the difference in attitude

between the two groups (also curriculum differences). The profession should perhaps

take this into consideration when promoting accounting to the overseas market.

In addressing the gender differences in attitudes towards the profession there was no

significant difference between male and females. This result is the opposite to the

findings of prior studies such as Nelson and Vendrzyk (1996) and Byrne and Willis

(2005). However there was one exception where female scores were higher than males.

This was the item ‘accountancy is a profession at par with medicine or law. Therefore

given the approximate equal gender representation in recent times females perceptions

of accounting are similar to males.

The results of the study were also compared to the results of Marriott and Marriott’s

(2003) study. The results revealed that students in the present study appeared to report

more positive attitudes for the three items, ‘accounting is interesting’, ‘I would enjoy

being an accountant’ and ‘I like accounting.’ This may be attributed to in recent times

the promotion of accounting by the profession in order to change the negative

perception of the profession. In comparing local students in the present study with home

students in the Marriott and Marriott study, statistically both sets of findings are the

same. However when comparing international students, the international students in the

present study had less positive attitudes towards accounting than in Marriott and

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Marriott’s study, but had more positive attitudes to accounting as a discipline and as a

career choice. The difference between the two groups may be attributed to the fact that

the countries of origin for international students are different. However, this finding

warrants further investigation with a larger sample of students across the three years of

an undergraduate accounting degree.

This study has the following limitations. Firstly the study did not address the change of

attitude over time. The study only examined students’ attitudes at one point in time and

did not identify whether students attitudes change over the period of their study.

Secondly the findings of the study indicated that there is a difference between local and

international students in their attitude towards the accounting profession. However the

study can only speculate as to why there is a difference between the two groups. Thirdly

the questionnaire was only administered at one institution. The limitations of this study

provide a pathway for further research in this area. A two staged approach, similar to

that used by Marriott and Marriott (2003) could be used. This would involve a

longitudinal study, preferably at the beginning and end of a student’s period of study.

This could address the limitation of only analysing students’ attitudes at one point in

time of their study. In order to validate the findings further research could use

qualitative data. By undertaking qualitative work, this could help determine the factors

that influence student’s attitudes and why such a difference exists between local and

international students. Finally as the study was only undertaken at one university,

further study at other universities would only strengthen the findings.

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Table 1 Descriptive statistics N= 131

frequency %

Gender

Male 57 43.5

Female 74 56.5

Residence

Australia 28 21.4

Overseas 103 78.6

Study mode

Full time 86 94.5

Part time 5 5.5

Missing 40

Entry pathway – first year studies

Deakin 33 25.6

MIBT 71 55.0

Holmesglen TAFE 9 7.0

Other TAFEs 16 12.4

Missing 2

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Table 2 Mean scores - Attitude towards accounting profession

Statement Valid Mean Std Deviation

The accounting profession is well-respected 131 7.85 1.40

Accounting is just a lot of rule-memorising® 130 4.83 2.49

Accountants work alone more than work with people®

130 5.48 2.34

Peer agreement accounting a good career choice 131 6.41 2.12

Accounting is interesting 131 6.92 2.12

Being an accountant a lot of prestige 130 6.89 1.67

Accounting is a lot of fixed rules doesn’t involve conceptual skills or judgment

131 6.14 2.67

Accounting a profession on par with medicine and law

130 6.98 2.56

I would enjoy being an accountant 131 7.77 1.83

Accountants are boring people® 128 6.70 2.60

My family would like me to become an accountant

131 6.69 2.31

Accountants are number-crunchers; they seldom work with people®

130 6.14 2.49

I like accounting 131 7.42 1.99

Professionally-qualified accountants interact with lots of people

131 7.56 1.65

Note: Items marked with an ® on all tables have been reversed keyed, which means that the higher the score the less the respondents agree with the statement and hence the more positive their attitude.

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Table 3 Differences in attitude towards accounting profession: local and overseas students- Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test for

Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means

F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed)Mean

DifferenceStd. Error Difference

95% Confidence Interval of the Difference

Lower UpperThe accounting profession is well-respected .311 .578 .042 129 .967 .012 .298 -.578 .603

.044 45.297 .965 .012 .287 -.565 .590

Accounting is just a lot of rule-memorising® .722 .397 .136 128 .892 .073 .540 -.995 1.142

.123 36.271 .903 .073 .597 -1.136 1.283

Accountants work alone more than work with people® 4.405 .038 .011 128 .991 .006 .509 -1.001 1.012

.010 34.513 .992 .006 .592 -1.196 1.208

My peers would think I made a good career decision if I became an accountant

.290 .591 .046 129 .963 .021 .453 -.875 .916

.045 41.375 .965 .021 .465 -.918 .959

Accounting is interesting.956 .330 .636 129 .526 .288 .454 -.609 1.186

.549 36.226 .586 .288 .525 -.777 1.353

Being an accountant has a lot of prestige .259 .612 .639 128 .524 .228 .357 -.479 .936

.615 40.951 .542 .228 .371 -.521 .978

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Accounting is a lot of fixed rules; it doesn't involve conceptual skills or judgement®

2.258 .135 .171 129 .865 .098 .572 -1.034 1.230

.150 36.767 .882 .098 .652 -1.224 1.420

Accounting is a profession, on par with medicine and law 2.958 .088 2.724 128 .007 1.469 .539 .402 2.535

2.904 44.503 .006 1.469 .506 .450 2.487

I would enjoy being an accountant .024 .876 .744 129 .458 .291 .391 -.483 1.066

.654 36.842 .517 .291 .446 -.612 1.194

Accountants are boring people®8.507 .004 -.580 126 .563 -.328 .565 -1.447 .791

-.468 32.776 .643 -.328 .701 -1.755 1.099

My family would like me to become an accountant 2.184 .142 -.482 129 .631 -.238 .494 -1.215 .739

-.436 37.984 .665 -.238 .546 -1.343 .867

Accountants are number-crunchers; they seldom work with people®

6.325 .013 1.416 128 .159 .760 .537 -.302 1.822

1.208 34.292 .235 .760 .629 -.518 2.038

I like accounting.016 .900 .453 129 .652 .193 .426 -.650 1.035

.379 35.201 .707 .193 .509 -.840 1.225

Professionally-qualified accountants interact with lots of people

.263 .609 .308 129 .758 .109 .353 -.590 .807

.299 41.185 .766 .109 .364 -.626 .844

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Table 4 New university students’ attitude towards accounting (Present study n = 130, MM203 n= 97) (Items marked ® are reversed keyed)

Mean Std. Error Mean Std. ErrorThe accounting profession is well-respected 7.8473 0.1219 7.9130 1.2761Accounting is just a lot of rule-memorising® 4.8308 0.2182 5.8261 2.3287Accountants work alone more than work with people® 5.4769 0.2055 7.0435 2.1633My peers would think I made a good career decision if I became an accountant 6.4122 0.1848 7.1304 1.6870Accounting is interesting 6.9160 0.1855 5.9130 2.2139Being an accountant has a lot of prestige 6.8923 0.1466 6.7826 1.4446Accounting is a lot of fixed rules; it doesn't involve conceptual skills or judgement® 6.1374 0.2336 7.0435 2.0775Accounting is a profession, on par with medicine and law 6.9846 0.2241 6.4348 2.1706I would enjoy being an accountant 7.7710 0.1602 6.4348 1.9960Accountants are boring people® 6.7031 0.2301 8.1739 2.2493

My family would like me to become an accountant 6.6870 0.2019 7.1304 2.2422Accountants are number-crunchers; they seldom work with people® 6.1385 0.2186 8.0870 1.5348I like accounting 7.4198 0.1741 6.7826 1.8819Professionally-qualified accountants interact with lots of people 7.5573 0.1442 7.7391 1.9357Average attidtude towards accounting score 6.6982 0.1892 7.0311 1.9430

MAA203 SurveyTable 4 (Marriot &

Marriot 2003)

Table 5 Home students’ attitude towards accounting (Present study n = 28, M&M 2003 n = 72) (Items marked ® are reversed keyed)

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Mean Std. Error Mean Std. ErrorThe accounting profession is well-respected 7.8571 0.2505 8.5278 1.1625Accounting is just a lot of rule-memorising® 4.8889 0.5478 5.7500 2.1477Accountants work alone more than work with people® 5.4815 0.5505 7.1944 1.8587My peers would think I made a good career decision if I became an accountant 6.4286 0.4160 7.5000 1.6359Accounting is interesting 7.1429 0.4872 5.0833 2.7463Being an accountant has a lot of prestige 7.0714 0.3330 7.2500 1.4413Accounting is a lot of fixed rules; it doesn't involve conceptual skills or judgement® 6.2143 0.6028 7.0833 1.8366Accounting is a profession, on par with medicine and law 8.1481 0.4392 6.8611 2.1709I would enjoy being an accountant 8.0000 0.4115 6.0563 2.2417Accountants are boring people® 6.4444 0.6609 7.8889 2.0933My family would like me to become an accountant 6.5000 0.5000 7.3239 2.1097Accountants are number-crunchers; they seldom work with people® 6.7407 0.5861 7.9167 1.7259I like accounting 7.5714 0.4754 6.1944 2.2806Professionally-qualified accountants interact with lots of people 7.6429 0.3262 7.5278 1.7278Average attidtude towards accounting score 6.8666 0.4705 7.0113 1.9414

MAA203 SurveyTable 6 (Marriot &

Marriot 2003)

Table 6 and Table 7 International students’ attitude towards accounting (Present study n = 100, M&M 2003 n = 25) (Items marked ® are reversed keyed)

Mean Std. Error Mean Std. ErrorThe accounting profession is well-respected 7.8447 0.1399 8.5600 1.3565Accounting is just a lot of rule-memorising® 4.8155 0.2365 5.2000 2.9439Accountants work alone more than work with people® 5.4757 0.2172 6.3200 2.9257My peers would think I made a good career decision if I became an accountant 6.4078 0.2072 7.6000 1.6330Accounting is interesting 6.8544 0.1963 5.4400 2.3466Being an accountant has a lot of prestige 6.8431 0.1635 7.3600 1.4967Accounting is a lot of fixed rules; it doesn't involve conceptual skills or judgement® 6.1165 0.2496 6.8000 2.3805Accounting is a profession, on par with medicine and law 6.6796 0.2507 7.1200 2.4549I would enjoy being an accountant 7.7087 0.1710 7.0400 2.3180Accountants are boring people® 6.7723 0.2337 7.6800 2.4953My family would like me to become an accountant 6.7379 0.2190 7.5200 1.9391Accountants are number-crunchers; they seldom work with people® 5.9806 0.2284 7.9200 1.8690I like accounting 7.3786 0.1810 6.8800 2.7129Professionally-qualified accountants interact with lots of people 7.5340 0.1614 8.4800 1.3266Average attidtude towards accounting score 6.6535 0.2040 7.1371 2.1571

MAA203 SurveyTable 7 (Marriot &

Marriot 2003)

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